Baptism: Desert Rain
by SlickCiggy
Summary: This is a lemony one-shot, featuring Ein and Zwei during the first six months of their relationship. Note: This is a one-shot with two parts and is a request. Also, as per the request, this one-shot was structured like an episiode. Please R & R!


WARNING**: **Be prepared for fruity goodness, strong (sometimes kinky) language and perhaps, some grammatical errors as I could give less of a shit if a comma goes here or there. Oh and there are some **disturbing sexual abuse themes**, so if that kind of thing grinds your gears, this is probably not the fic for you—and I'm not quite sure how you managed to survive the anime... just say 'in.

AUTHOR'S NOTE(S):

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Phantom: Requiem for the Phantom. I'm just borrowing characters and implementing my genius in order to fulfill the wanton fantasies of fan boys and girls, everywhere.

**Requested by: **JT (Please Note: This one-shot is structured like an episode as per JT's request.)

**Anime**: Phantom: Requiem for the Phantom

**Characters**: Reiji "Zwei" or "Phantom" Azuma & Eren "Ein" or "Phantom" Surname Unknown

**Scene Setting**: This fic is completely based on the Anime and occurs sometime in the first six months of the show, so roughly between Episodes 04-07 in the anime series.

Oh, and for those of us who haven't seen the Anime in a while and are too lazy to look up an episode list on Wiki, basically, during this time period Reiji has proven himself more than qualified to be bear the title, along with Ein, of Phantom. Claudia is just now starting to drop by and plant seeds of loyalty, free will, and all that other useless nonsense, in Reiji's mind.

Master Scythe, although pleased with his second creation, is still utterly infatuated with his first creation, Ein, but is becoming suspicious of Claudia's apparent infatuation with Zwei. And last, but certainly not least, Ein and Zwei have developed a subtle trust, appreciation, and devotion for one another—however, this "bond" is kept completely under wraps still at this point.

Whether intentionally or unintentionally, neither one of them ever acts in any way that would make anyone even remotely question the extent of their perception of one another besides the apathetic, 'useful assistant, fellow assassin, Inferno expendable asset."

**Soundtrack for One-Shot**:

"When the Lights Go Out" Performed by The Black Keys

"Sweet Dreams" Performed by Marilyn Manson

"Gone to California" Performed by P!nk

"Fingers" Performed by The Seatbelts, via Cowboy Bebop O.S.T Future Blues

"Wicked Games" Performed by Stone Sour

* * *

><p><strong>BAPTISM <strong>

**PART ONE: THIRST**

"_Don't it hurt so bad when you're standin in the sun, in the bottom of your heart you don't love no one. You can be oh so mean, I just can't see, no in between…" (1)_

The lines splitting the car lanes blurred into the dying sun and Zwei maneuvered the red convertible through traffic with the help of the remnants of his 'phantom' reflexes. Wind tore through his shaggy brown hair and he blinked, slowly. His eye lids seemed heavy and the street and the cars dotting his view morphed into nothing—complete and utter nothing. This had to be the only bright side—well, if you could call 'black' bright—to killing people. This hellacious, calm, void of nothingness that always soothed the tattered edges of his webbed mind after the job mission was successfully completed.

"Excellent driving, Zwei. You're getting much better at maneuvering sports vehicles."

Master Scythe's condescending praise erased Zwei's illusion of an empty world and suddenly, the young assassin found himself parked in front of Mrs. McCunnen's elegant home.

Dim lights spilled out of the large bay window panes that constructed the face of the structure, overlooking the river and he swept his eyes over the lily garden, automatically creating a tactical analysis.

_How did I get here?_ He asked himself the question out of habit really, without any real interest or intention of searching for an answer in his memory. Master had probably issued an order and he'd done what was expected of him, without question.

At one time, such blind obedience had seemed strange, it didn't anymore. Obedience came even more natural to him than breathing. Actually, as far as, 'natural' was concerned breathing almost seemed… contrived, like and act. Either way, it didn't matter.

"Thank you, Master." The response spilled between his lips like a bad vinyl recording.

"Now, Zwei, I have instructed you to drive us here because Ms. McCunnen asked for an audience with you…"

"Yes, Master." Zwei's gaze flickered to the rear view mirror. "Shall, I turn off the ignition?"

"No." Master Scythe's pinched; high cheek bones seemed all the more prominent in the faint shadows cast over the bitter amusement forever etched into his expression. "That won't be necessary," his gloved, slender fingers trailed across the slope of Ein's bare thigh, "Ein will drive me home and then return to her post. Ms. McCunnen has offered to deliver you back to the safe house once she has no further use of you. Is that understood?"

"Yes, Master." Zwei's gaze flickered to Ein's stoic expression and somewhere deep in his guilt he sensed the muted feelings of…disgust, discomfort...maybe? Not that it mattered. He hadn't lived this long by asked unnecessary questions, so instead he shifted the car into park.

"That is all."

Almost immediately after the order was issued, Zwei and Ein both assumed their places. He strode toward Ms. McCunnen's front door and she usurped the driver's seat. A gust of wind tickled the hair on the back of his neck and he idly glanced over his shoulder, wondering how long it'd been since the convertible had driven off into the night.

The front door opened and spilled warm, dim light over him. Ms. McCunnen leaned against the white frame and smiled ever so lightly. "Hello, Phantom."

He nodded. "Good evening, Ms. McCunnen."

"Now, now, there's no need to be so formal. You may address me as Claudia, okay, Phantom?" she turned and disappeared into the house. "Come in, will ya? And lock the door behind you."

"Yes, Claudia." Zwei faded between flesh and ghost, but followed the she-demon all the same.

It was, after all, an order.

"_You know what the sun's all about when the lights go out."(1)_

"Please strip, Ein."

"Of course, Master." Gazing into nothing, Ein peeled the wrappings off of her hollow body, dropping the clothing into a pile on the ground. Master preferred she not fold them or place them neatly. He appreciated the appeal of a little chaos in the midst of perfection, or so he said. She blinked and waited, calmly, patiently, until he swiveled around in his high backed, desk chair.

"Very good, Ein. Please come here, so that I may anoint your flawless skin. "

Unlike Zwei, she never filtered Master's commands through any kind of mental net. His word was absolute. He was God and she, a Lilith recreated, in his twisted image, as a beautiful Eve. That was all. She was merely an instrument, a paint brush for her Master's vision.

Master uncorked the vial and Ein noted with a familiar indifference the subtle musk wafting from the oil. He poured a liberal amount on his palms and Ein shifted her focus in preparation for the very long night to come. Judging by the amount of oil, he'd poured onto his palm, tonight would be a thorough sculpting.

Therefore, if she wanted to be able to stand for so long without movement, or failure, she needed to refocus her thoughts onto something else. After all, she could never disappoint Master or displease him by moving his canvas while he painted.

After evenly disturbing the oils in his hands, he pressed his icy palms against her skin and sucked in a breath of appreciation as his touch glided across the top of her shoulders and chest. "You were wonderful tonight. I so enjoy watching my Prima-donna take the stage. It fills me," he flexed his fingers into the curve of her ribs, "positively to the brim," he rolled his 'r' and his finger's skated up the side of her chest cavity and cupped the side of her breast, "with reverence."

"Beautiful…" Catching his bottom lip between his pearly white teeth, he squelched his wide eerie smile and swirled his index finger around her nipple.

His words of praise fell on deaf ears as Ein had lost herself in the blue sky and green grass. The light beamed down upon her shoulders like a knighthood from the angels themselves and the wind bellowed through her hair like a welcoming embrace. Yes, she could stand here forever…if Master allowed it.

"_Everybody's looking for something. Some of them want to use you. Some of them want to get used by you. Some of them want to abuse you. Some of them want to be abused."(2)_

Claudia poured him another drink and handed him the sweating scotch glass, before raising her own. "Congratulations. I heard nothing but good things about your most recent mission," her sultry words oozed from between her luscious, red lips.

Zwei mimicked her gesture and sampled the liquor as he peered down the barrel of the crystal, studying how she seemed to kiss the edge of the glass and draw the liquid into her mouth like a butterfly pulling nectar out of a flower.

"Mmm," she hummed a little noise of pleasure, her tongue darting out across her bottom lip.

Over the last hour, phantom had faded behind his gate and Zwei was left with the irritating urge to ask her Claudia just what in the hell it was that she wanted from him. He needed to get home eventually. Ein could use the help cleaning the weapons and he wanted a shower. No matter how many lives he took, the job didn't feel done until he'd tricked himself into thinking he'd managed to wash off all traces of gun powder and blood of his skin.

"You know, you can ask me…?" she offered, leaning back into the lush white chair.

Zwei assessed the purpose of her statement and only after he'd concluded it wasn't a test of some sort, did he meet her gaze.

"Oh, come on, Zwei," she laughed and edged back, the lapels of her immodest robe parting even further, "I know you want to know. It's all right to ask me why you're here."

Setting his glass down on a lily shaped coaster on the glass coffee table, he regarded her intently. Could really get away with asking her anything? That was not the way he'd been taught. Ein had taught him questions were the beginning of the end of sanity. He'd learned his lesson plenty well since he'd awaken into this godforsaken nightmare almost four months ago.

"Go on, Zwei," Claudia eased forward, her blonde tresses spilling over her shoulders in a waterfall of silk, framing the large breasts peeking between the lapels of her red robe, "it's okay. You can always _ask_ me questions. The last thing I need is a puppet who can't think for himself." She slid from her chair onto the couch and brushed the back of her knuckles against his limp hand. "I _want_ you to ask me."

He flexed his fingers under her caress. "If that is your order—"

"No, it's simply a request. Think of all orders like they're requests because ultimately, regardless, of what others tell you, you have a choice whether to follow an order or not."

A muscle quirked in his jaw and a harrowing of confusion cluttered his mind. He blinked in attempt to rid himself of the unnecessary; to lose his focus would mean a certain death. Claudia inched closer, her thigh pressing against his, propped her elbow up on the low back of the sofa and toyed with his hair. "Come on, you can do it, I know you have it in you. We have all night, if you need it."

A gunshot blasted through his mind, followed by a sound bite of Ein's teachings and he glanced out of the corner of his eye toward Claudia. Her beautiful face was complimented by a sultry full mouth and shrewd, mysterious eyes. She looked like a devil from paradise.

The corner of her mouth quirked upward and she threaded her fingers through his hair, and then molded her warm touch down the side of his neck. "I could help you if you want." She set her glass next to his and rubbed her newly freed hand down the other side of his shoulder, to his bicep. "You know, they say positive reinforcement is much more effective tool for behavioral learning?" She squeezed the ripe muscle. "Yes. I think I am going to help you. We'll start slow. First, we'll let you decide what rhythm you like best and then," she wet her lips, "we'll take it from there."

Zwei observed, confused and utterly dumbfounded, as she sunk to her knees before him. She nudged him back and he slouched against the couch without resistance. "I've always wondered what sin tastes like," she chuckled under breath and rubbed her palms up over his black cargo pants, until her deft fingers found the zipper.

It wasn't as though he didn't know what she was doing, but the method behind the madness was lost to him and his resolve in the belief that the 'why' never mattered wavered for just a split second.

"_I wanna use you and abuse you; I wanna know what's inside you." (2)_

"Ein, doesn't my praise and adoration please you?" Master rubbed the pad of his index finger and thumb together, his thin brow arching. "You seem to be lacking enthusiasm tonight."

The dream deteriorated into the reality of the expanse of his domain and she assessed how she could redeem herself. "Master I live only for you." Scanning the archives of lessons she'd managed to acquire over the course of her time spent in hell, she spoke evenly. "I will try harder to please you."

Appeased momentarily, he grinned. "I admire your dedication, Ein." Reaching for the oil, he lubricated his fingers and dragged them across her vaginal lips. Ignoring the muscles twitching from exhaustion in her spread thighs, she focused solely on the creating the appropriate physical response. If she could not self-lubricate, Master would be take it as evidence of her insubordination and would not be pleased.

Master Scythe's fingertips traced a path around her vulva, "Wider please, Ein. I should like to make sure that every crevice of your lovely body has been properly moisturized."

She dug her nails into her vaginal lips and gently opened herself wider for his praise.

"After all," he hummed a segment of classical music, "what kind of creator would I be if I did not lovingly maintain my most precious creation?"

Once more, his question fell upon deaf ears; after all, it was not as though Master ever truly asked her anything during their quality time together, as he liked to call it. So instead, she put all of her focus into pleasing him by a show of…enthusiasm.

As Ein attempted to tap into her nerve endings and stimulant self-lubrication, her Master's complaint echoed throughout her mind, bouncing from one side of her empty thoughts to another. The rhythm of disgrace mimicked the faint ticking of the clock and the farther she slid into herself, the louder the chime became. Her weak heart, with no other lead to follow, eventually slowed its beat until every molecule of her being tick-tocked in sync.

She blinked and a wail of noise and colors faded before the veil of darkness blinding her of the shadows crawling across the ceiling. Cash register drawers opened, escalator belts grated against the motor, people mingled and water…the sound of water peeled open a page of her memory.

_"Oh, this is gonna hurt, isn't it?"_

_ Laughing softly, she clung to his arms like a lover would. "Well, it's your fault for being late."_

_ "Yeah, yeah…I know."_

_ Zwei cradled her loosely against his chest and rubbed his cheek against her hair, taking advantage, she knew, of his peripheral vision to note the position of the mark's bodyguards._

_ The stood embracing one another and finally Zwei's breath burned the curl of her ear. "We're clear. The target is moving," the false caring in his voice peeled away, leaving only the cadence of an apathetic hunter._

_ The pockets of people crowding the mall, the spray of the water fountain, the very world continued moving as the Phantom stood still, two bonded wolves in sheep's skin, and finally Zwei interrupted her stolen moment of existence. _

_ "We should probably leave."_

_ Clutching his sleeves, she pressed into the misleading warmth of his body and shut her eyes and shed her 'human' disguise and became, once again, Ein. _

Zwie's solemn eyes bloomed in her mind on the heels of her memory. Ein's skin flushed with warmth and behind her stoic expression, a zing of something she couldn't name lit up her nerves, and she followed the glowing trail to her Master's pleasure.

_Those eyes…_

"_I'm going to California; yes, to resurrect my soul. The sun is always shining…_

_Or at least that's what I'm told."(3)_

_**About an Hour Later…**_

Zwei twisted the knob and opened the front door, only to find Ein sitting at the small kitchen table, beneath the window, in the dark. "Hi."

"Hi, how was your meeting with Claudia?"

"Okay…I guess?" he remarked quietly and shut the door softly behind himself. A stream of smoke carried up from a mug on the kitchen table and he noted she'd changed out of her 'work' clothing, into her normal sleeveless blouse and skirt as he slipped off his jacket. "How was yours?"

Ein answered his question with silence, not that that surprised him. Sometimes, she just didn't answer, regardless of whether she'd heard the question or not. He never pressed her. Out of everything that had been taken from her, out of everything that could be and probably would be taken from her eventually, he believed she at least deserved to have some semblance of privacy, even if it was something she only ever got from him. His skin itched with the memories of the mission he'd completed, and the entertainment he'd served as for Claudia and he crossed the expanse of the room and pulled his shirt overhead.

The bathroom's darkness soothed his skin like a balm and after he'd shed his sheep's skin, he skirted the edge of the sink and toilet with the ease of a blind man who'd thoroughly learned his surroundings. Hot water beat down on his head, pounding the questions Claudia had stirred to life with her 'positive reinforcement,' and the echoes of the bullets he'd fired into a comfortable numbness.

"Zwei?"

"Yeah, Ein?" Bracing himself on the tiles, he rolled his shoulders and titled his head back, so the water could wash away the tears he hadn't shed.

"Did Claudia give you a mission?"

"No." He flashed back to what she had, in fact, given him and snatched up the bar of soap.

The steamy fog carried the weight of the unspoken question and he paused, his futile attempt at cleansing and listened to the nearly inaudible sounds of Ein's breathing. She was still in the bathroom. He knitted his brows together, _why?_

"What is it, Ein?"

"Zwei?"

"Yeah?" He blindly stared into the darkness, waiting. He didn't know why but since as long as he could remember Ein, he'd had this tense need, almost obsession, fueled by the almost involuntary need to hang on her every word. They were so few, so far between, that when she spoke it was like witnessing a comet or watching a hummingbird feed off of a particularly lovely flower. Her words were precious—like rains drops in the desert.

When she didn't respond, Zwei's body tensed even further and he prodded the darkness for patience.

No one could rush the rain.

Finally, she sighed softly. "Never mind, I'm going to bed."

"G' night." Zwei continued with his shower, un-phased.

There was no point in being disappointed.

The rain couldn't be rushed and the desert had grown quite accustomed to thirst.

* * *

><p>"<em>I'm goin' to California to find my pot of gold. Corruption on every corner: hustlers sellin' sweets, baby is home cryin' while her mom is on the streets. Everybody's dyin' have you heard the news today? A woman in north Phili is mournin'…a bullet took another son away."(3)<em>

_**One Month & Four Assassinations Later…**_

The casino buzzed with a symphony of noise, combined with the steady sound of coins, ice clinking against the sides of expensive drinks and nasally laughs from the hookers, trying to 'win' their way into some big winners hotel room. Zweig forced a natural sounding laugh and set the older gentlemen's drink before him.

"I like you, kid." The man wrapped his pudgy fingers around the glass, gurgled a laugh that seemed almost muted by the fat bridging his chin and upper chest together, and shoved a a hundred dollar bill into Zweig's hand. "You go on and get of here now."

"Thank you, sir." Bowing, he excused himself from the Black Jack table and noted under a façade of nativity the patterns of the security guards patrolling the floor. Dropping the bill into some random person's coin cup, he wove through the slot machines back toward the bar, extending his phantom feelers over the room as he went.

He stepped in front of the hallway leading to the elevators just as the opened, revealing a killer disguised with in the folds of a saucy red dress, and with the slightest touch of his gaze, pulled the latch off the gate. The answering glow in her seemingly sultry gaze returned the favor, unchaining the identical predator lurking beneath his skin.

Sliding his gaze to the right, he caught the mark's gaping expression and the faintest strings of the question he whispered to one of his men as pointed to the most beautiful thing in the room—Ein. The red dress clung to her curves and danced around her shapely legs as she floated across the shining marble floor. Yeah, the most beautiful thing in the room, all right, and the by far the most deadly.

When he reached the bar, he continued back through the kitchen, abandoning the tray as he expertly wove through the kitchen staff and culinary chaos. Picking up the brown paper back resting near the door, he pushed the back door open but halted when his cellphone wrung.

He flipped open his phone.

"I tried to approach the mark but his bodyguards stopped me. When I played my card, they didn't seem to buy it. They left me and to the mark's ambassador here, claiming he knows every girl who works in this city. If he gets here before I can convince them I'm the real thing my cover is going to be blown."

Zwei's grip tightened on the straps. "What do you want me to do?"  
>"Help me sell it. I'm in the girl's bathroom on the east side of the hotel lobby hall. They've left two men in the lobby as shadows. Meet me in the custodial closet."<p>

"Got it."

Tearing off his apron and flinging it into the waste bin a few feet away, he disappeared out of the kitchen and faded into the darkness clinging to the building.

Zwei resumed his mask of 'well adjusted' individual and slipped into the custodial closet, without being seen. The distinct 'clip' of magazine snapping into a gun peeled away his façade as he turned. Ein met his soulless eyes with a steady look bearing approval. "Zwei."

"Ein," he returned the greeting. "What do you want me to do?"

She blinked and fisted her hand in the shimmery red fabric of her skirt. "It's been five minutes. My chaperones should start getting curious by now. They'll search the bathroom, discover I'm gone and search the surrounding area. When they do, you'll make it very clear I'm a working girl," she dragged the fabric up over the slope of her creamy thighs, revealing a black garter that would also serve as a gun holster, "Understood?"

Heat spilled down Zwei's spine and he swept his gaze over the naughty picture she made, but forced the beginnings of arousal away with a dangerous shift of his metallic green gaze. "Yes."

"Good." She holstered the gun and let her skirt drop. The shimmering red material danced and kissed down her legs to her toned calves. Zwei met her gaze and he studied the subtle make up highlighting her cool gray eyes, how her hair had been pinned up, a few curls whispering down the side of her porcelain face. The flower adoring the side of her dark gray tresses tempted his fingertips and for a moment, he wondered whether he could crush the rose with just a look. Voices tickled his ears and his mind zapped the useless musings. He tensed with a predatory calm. "It's time."

She nodded and he plucked a wad of cash out of his back pocket and crossed the distance between them. Without a moment's hesitation, he wound his arm around her waist and stuffed the wad of money between her up-thrust breasts. She relaxed into his embrace and lifted her hands to his hair, dragging his attention up from the bills peeking between her creamy tits. Ein halted and suddenly the black coloring his world cracked. Suddenly, the heavy scent of cleaning materials and dust gave away to the teasing scent of her perfume. He drew in a slow, deep breath and tugged her even closer.

The curves, barely concealed by the dresses tight torso, softened against his planes of muscle and a forbidden awareness of her proximity zinged throughout his entire body, until even his fingertips were burning with the shame of his sin. Ein's glossy red lips parted just slightly and she pressed her palms on the side of his face. Her dainty, but callused, hands cradled the side of his face and Zwei turned his cheek into her touch. Relief washed over him and he sagged against the wells-stocked shelves at his back, hooking the sole of his shoe on one of the shelves.

Ein swayed with him, seemingly trusting he wouldn't just dissolve into a heap of ashes in the face of the light she cast upon him. Her breath fluttered against his lips and he slowly opened his eyes, completely unsure of when he'd closed them. Something dangerous but not quite deadly had painted a shining glaze over her eyes and she threaded her fingers through his hair. Zwei's gaze dropped to the strap draped over her creamy shoulder and he slid his hand up the dip of her lower back up to her shoulder blade and slid his thumb between the strap and her skin. Releasing a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding, he tugged if down off her shoulder.

_What is happening between us? Do I even really care?_

An attractive pink flushed her skin and he lolled his head to the side, peering at her through his thick eye-lashes. "Is this enough?" his voice sounded hoarse to his own ears and his heart beat thumped against his ribcage as his groin tensed with lust. Ein's eye lips dropped slightly, but her voice was emotionless to the energy he could feel pulsing beneath his tense fingertips. "No."

"Hmm…" he made the sound almost as an afterthought and let his hands ski down the slope of her spine to the flare of her hips. Somewhere in the eye of the hurricane his mind had turned into over the last few months, he knew what he was about to do was necessary but so…so…wrong. Oh, well, he'd been condemned to Hell anyways; he might as well enjoy the taste of poison before it eventually killed him.

Leaning forward, he titled his head, noting the widening of her eyes out of the corner of his, and took one last breath before pressing his mouth against hers. Their eyes closed in unison and pleasure so intense, he jerked forward against her petite frame, it didn't merely fall but crashed down behind the darkness. The stuffy custodial closet weathered away into nothing and he flexed his fingertips into hips as his lips sparred with hers. She kissed him back, softly at first, and then with an almost experimental flutter—like a butterfly who knew it was being watched by a catcher but couldn't bare leave the flower untouched.

_More_. The command was ragged and he obeyed it without question and dipped his tongue into her mouth, sampling her tart but sweet taste. His palms burned and he wondered which one of them was on fire, or would they both burn…together. His groin pulsed with desire and he flinched. Oh, it hurt so good.

Ein sighed into his mouth and tasted him back with what seemed like relief. Had he put her out of her misery and done the misdeed so she wouldn't have to? Probably. He didn't care, either way. The voices and movement adding a soundtrack to their stolen moment kept him grounded—just barely. This would be over very soon. He kissed her a bit harder and urged her tongue to touch his own, which she did as she stretched herself upward on her tip toes, bracing herself on the thigh of his bent leg.

He titled his head back to accommodate the change in height as the slick encasing her body dragged against the cotton of his white, collared shirt in a mesmerizing friction that teased her nipples to a stand. A noise disturbed the silence of their kiss and he wonders who'd uttered the moan of pleasure, not that it mattered. No. Nothing mattered.

Zwei's senses picked up the force of gravity before his mind registered she'd pulled a bin of cleaning tools off of the shelf. He flexed his fingers into her body as his eyes flew open, watching as the carrying box descended pass them to the floor. Dropping her hand back into his hair, Ein's lashes fluttered closed and stole his attention and in that stolen second of time, he watched, mesmerized by her serene expression as they kissed.

For a reason he didn't even care to understand, a smile twitched at the corners of his lips and he let his eyes close as the box smacked down against the concrete floor, its contents banging and bouncing across the floor.

"Over here!" Someone shouted and the door ripped open, burning away the remnants of their stolen moment. Ein and Zwei both froze, like kids caught with their hands in the cookie jar and turned their attention to the body guard casting a shadow over them. Clad in a sleek black suit, the body guard's mouth dropped open and his cheeks flushed furiously. "I…uh…found…her," he sputtered.

"What the hell is all of the noise about?"

Zwei recognized the marks voice and slanted his gaze to other side, in attempt to camouflage the Phantom's re-awakening. A second, wider, shadow towered over them. Ein pulled away and he resisted the urge to hold her in place and he caught the coquettish lilt to her expression. "Hello."

A deep chuckled filled the confines of the room. "Are you what's got my men in such a state, little miss?"

She smiled and offered a breathy laugh. "I'm Teresa."

"I'm…_intrigued_."

Zwei looked away and rolled his eyes, dropping his hands to his side.

"Who's this?" the mark asked, apparently motioning toward Zwei.

She straightened and wet her lips with the tip of her tongue. "Well, you see…I came here ready for some action and when your men turned me away, well, I just had to find it elsewhere." Ein strutted away from Zwei, her red high-heels clicking across the concrete. He ignored the way his stomach knotted and locked the unwanted emotional reactions behind the shadows crawling across his skin.

"I'm sorry about that; my men can be a bit over-protective sometimes." The mark cackled and Zwei watched their shadows, noting how the man extended his hand toward her. "Shall we?"

"Of course," she purred, slipping her hand into his. "I've never been able to resist a man who's worth protecting."

"Here, let me get rid of this for you," he plucked the wad of cash from between her breast, pausing to brush his knuckles against the soft swell of cleavage, and flicked it back into the closet. She laughed and allowed him to lead her past his sheepish body guards.

"But sir, she hasn't even been frisked yet!" One of the men interjected.

"That's true." Ein smirked. "What do you say to a little _risky_ business, hmm?"

The mark lifted a thick blond brow as his lips spread into a wolfish smile. "I'll take care of that myself."

Waving dismissively at both Zwei and the guards, she pressed against the fat barely contained in the marks cheesy white suit. "See ya later, boys."

The two body guards mumbled something under their breath and threw the closet door shut and followed the couple, the discarded waiter left inside apparently forgotten.

Wiping his sleeve over the back of his lips, Zwei straightened and tensed as Phantom painted his body and blinded his eyes as he bent, retrieving the brown bag he'd brought with him. His mind blank, he slipped out of the closet, unnoticed…his finger itching for the trigger.

The quicker he fed that faceless fat-fuck a bullet, the better.

"_I'm going to California, someone say a prayer for me."(3)_

_**Less than Fifteen Minutes Later…**_

"What the fuck is going on here?" The mark wailed, shaking his fist into the air as fat droplets of sweat glided down the ribs of his fat face and dropped into the swirling Jacuzzi nestled in the corner of the lush hotels suite.

Masked, empty, and willing, Ein stood, gun cocked. "Following orders." Her words were muted by the mask but enough so that the mark didn't hear here. His eyes widened and she squeezed the trigger, filling his head with two bullets. He wheezed his last breath and slushed into the blood stained bath with a nasty splash.

"Our mission is almost complete," she lowered her pistol and turned her head to the shadow clinging next to the open window. "Did you bring my clothes?"

Zwei stepped from the shadows, gun in hand and tossed her the brown bag. She caught it, crossed the distance to the bed and set her gun on the plush, gold, comforter as he surveyed the crime scene through the slits in his mask with apathetic but keen eyes. "You have two minutes before the towels you ordered get here."

"Noted," she reached behind herself and unzipped the dress.

Despite the severity of their time-table, Zwei struggled to keep focused on the task at hand as the material feel into a pool at her feet. Tightening his grip on the hilt of his gun, he swept his greedy gaze over her exposed back, down to the underwear cupping the curves of her ass. His throat worked and a little tremor of guilt knotted his stomach—I_ shouldn't be looking at her this way_—as Ein paused, and slanted him a look out of the corner of her eye. "What is it?"

"Nothing," he took his position behind the door. "You have less than a minute now."

By the time a knock sounded on the door, Ein had finished changing into a black jumpsuit and taken her position. The room door opened and a guard stepped inside, his hands pocketed. "Hey boss, did you order some towels?"

A young woman, clad in a maid uniform followed him inside, said towels clutched to her chest. Zwei shifted and closed the door softly behind her as the guard halted, his eyes widening as he spotted his boss's remains, stewing in the Jacuzzi.

"What the—"

Ein silenced him with a single shot and Zwei noted from around the woman, how his body crumbled to the ground as she stepped out of the shadows, silencer smoking. The maid shrieked, her body tensing with horror and fear. A split second before her horror led to a terrified scream, Zwei caught her from behind and slapped his hand over her nose and mouth. Dropping the towels, she struggled against him and his eyes blazed metallic green as her tears wet his gloved hands.

The maid's furious struggle eventually eased into a fitful lapse of unconsciousness and Zwei caught her body and carried her to the bed. He deposited her body on the bed and peered down at the sleeping girl, memorizing the disheveled curls framing her ruddy cheeks and the rise and fall of her chest. She was lucky. She'd be asleep when it happened. Ein came up behind him, red dress in hand. "I can do this alone, watch the door."

He nodded and did as he was told.

Within minutes, Ein had stripped the girl and dressed her down to the flower clipped in the side of her hair as the hooker. "Okay."

Zwei picked up the towels and arranged them on the edge of the Jacuzzi as Ein stuffed the maid's uniform in the brown paper back just as a knock sounded on the door. Both assassins paused as the door knob jiggled. "Boss? Boss? Is everything okay in there?"

Ein grabbed the girl and hoisted her up against her body as Zwei stood and pulled his gun out from his waist band. Cocking pack the trigger, he lifted it and aimed for the girls forehead.

"Hurry, Zwei." She urged, struggling to hold the girl's neck upright. "We don't have a lot of time."

Time slowed to a crawl as Zwei dragged his eyes over the sleeping soul one more time, noting the soft curve of her cheek and Phantom took over the reins as his limbs started to shake with the gravity of the murder he was about to commit. Ein's gloved hand slid up and shielded the girl's face in an attempt to better hold up her head and he stared down the barrel of the gun to his partner in crime.

Ein's teachings and the emptiness that he knew was coloring her eyes behind the coquettish theatre mask, soother some of his demons. At least he wouldn't have to burn in hell alone. _Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned._ His mind emptied into nothingness as his better half took aim and just as the girl's eyes fluttered open, he squeezed the trigger.

The bullet glided between Ein's gloved fingertips a pierced the girl right in the forehead, splashing Ein's mask with the evidence of the life he'd stolen from her. With a solemn nod, Ein laid the girl on the carpet, grabbed the bag and just as the door crashed open, both he and her disappeared out of the window—Phantoms melting back into the darkness.

* * *

><p><span>AUTHOR'S NOTE<span>: This one-shot is divided into two separate posts. Expect the second one very soon as it is already written—it just needs a proofing.

Now then, this I my first attempt at Phantom: Requiem for the Phantom. Well, what did we think? Yay? Nay? Ick? I welcome reviews and criticism. I tried to keep them as 'in character' as I possibly could. It wasn't so hard for Zwei, but Ein was a royal pain in my ass. So…yeah…please review and let me know how I did. Thanks for reading! ~Slick


End file.
